LTE and IMS Will Drive ATCA Market to $1.7 Billion by 2017, Heavy Reading Finds
Deployments of 4G Long Term Evolution and IP Multimedia Subsystem will help the ATCA market grow at a 12 percent CAGR through 2017, to a total of $1.7 billion, new report says

BOSTON, July 9, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Deployments of 4G Long Term Evolution (LTE) and IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) by Tier 1 telecom equipment manufacturers are driving the ATCA market, which will grow at a 12 percent CAGR to a total of $1.7 billion by 2017, according to a major new report from Heavy Reading (www.heavyreading.com), the research division of Light Reading (www.lightreading.com).

ATCA, AMC & MicroTCA Market Update & Forecast, 2013-2017 identifies and analyzes the full spectrum of vendors developing ATCA, AMC and MicroTCA components and systems. The report includes not only granular information on the components and systems themselves – of interest to system OEMs and service providers – but also insights into how the overall market is developing – of interest to a wide audience, including investors.

The report evaluates and analyzes the products and strategies of 14 systems integrators and 28 component suppliers. It also includes a market forecast for ATCA products through 2017, with a breakdown of COTS market share, and presents information on the use of ATCA by 18 telecom equipment providers.

For a full list of systems integrators included in this report, click here.For a full list of component suppliers included in this report, click here.For a full list of equipment vendors included in this report, click here.

"The ATCA platform and ecosystem present a significant opportunity for telecom equipment providers to manage development costs and reduce time to market," explains Simon Stanley, Analyst at Large with Heavy Reading and author of the report. "ATCA is an ideal platform for network functions virtualization (NFV) and software-defined networking (SDN) solutions. As the market develops, there will be new opportunities for silicon vendors, systems integrators, OEMs and service providers to take advantage of ATCA. As with all paradigm shifts, there will be winners and losers, making this a key market to watch."

LTE, IMS and policy management are key applications for ACTA platforms, Stanley explains. "By using ATCA as a common platform for several generations of wireless technology, equipment vendors are delivering flexible and integrated systems for LTE and IMS to support voice over LTE (VoLTE). ATCA platforms are also being used to deliver high-performance deep packet inspection (DPI) for policy management and enforcement."

ATCA market growth has been constrained by several factors. Overall revenue growth in the ATCA sector is significantly lower than our previous forecast, due to lower than expected capital spending by carriers during 2012 and the failure of several Tier 1 telecom equipment manufacturers to expand the use of ATCA platforms beyond wireless infrastructure and IMS. There has also been consolidation in Tier 2/3 vendors using ATCA and significant shift away from 14-slot ATCA platforms to cheaper 6/8-slot systems.

COTS market share will grow to more than 85 percent by 2017. As more companies use ATCA, the impact of companies such as Alcatel-Lucent and Huawei that are designing and manufacturing ATCA components and systems in-house is reduced.

40G ATCA systems are shipping, and 100G is in development. 40G-ready ATCA chassis have been shipping for several years. 40GE switch blades were delayed by the late delivery of 40GE switch chips but are now shipping from five vendors. The first CPU blades with 40GE interfaces started shipping late in 2012. Telecom equipment providers can deploy new 40GE ATCA platforms and upgrade many existing ATCA platforms to 40GE switching. 100G ATCA fabric switching is now in development, and the first 100G solutions are expected in 2015.

ATCA, AMC & MicroTCA Market Update & Forecast, 2013-2017 costs $3,995 and is published in PDF format. The price includes an enterprise license covering all of the employees at the purchaser's company.

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About Heavy Reading (www.heavyreading.com)Heavy Reading is an independent research organization offering deep analysis of emerging telecom trends to network operators, technology suppliers, and investors. Its product portfolio includes in-depth reports that address critical next-generation technology and service issues, market trackers that focus on the telecom industry's most critical technology sectors, exclusive worldwide surveys of network operator decision-makers that identify future purchasing and deployment plans, and a rich array of custom and consulting services that give clients the market intelligence needed to compete successfully in the global telecom industry. As a division of UBM Tech (tech.ubm.com), Heavy Reading contributes to the only integrated business information platform serving the global communications industry.